Minnesota Sports Forum

If the coach is scared that Love & Ricky might leave, I don't want him. All the players are in place for a playoff team they just need *coaching* imagine that. Love and Ricky won't want to leave a team if we are actually winning

I don't want Flip coaching this team. Here's an article on Wizards' firing of Flip:

The Wizards' management had hoped to avoid firing Saunders, even as the club lost its first eight games. But the team's continued poor play, combined with the regression of 2010's No. 1 draft pick John Wall, left the team with no choice.

Wall is averaging 7.2 assists per game this season, nearly a full assist less than the 8.3 per game he averaged in his rookie season. His shooting percentage has declined to .379 from the field this season from .409 in 2010-11.

"He is a talented player that I think I need to coach -- and he has to be willing to be coached," Wittman said of Wall. "And if he does that, that's where good players become great players."

Wall hasn't gotten much help from his Wizards teammates, who have been prone to inconsistent play. On Monday in a 20-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, they walked down the court for offensive possessions, failed to hustle after loose balls and missed eight of nine shots in the paint in the first quarter.

After one string of sloppy plays, Saunders took a knee in front of the scorer's table, bowed his head and rubbed his temples.

After the game, Wall said: "Whoever got the ball just took a shot. Guys are holding their heads down, and we're not fighting or competing."

While the Wizards have plenty of young, talented players, they have shown a lack of discipline and Saunders could not seem to get through to them.

Earlier in the season, the players held a team meeting in which the younger players asked the veterans to tell Saunders they wanted him to hold them more accountable, according to sources. The veterans discussed it with Saunders, but after more than two seasons of his softer approach, it was perhaps too late for him to gain control of his roster.

The Wizards tried Saunders' patience from the start, blowing a 21-point lead to the New Jersey Nets in their season opener. Afterwards, Andray Blatche voiced displeasure over the offensive play calling and later, on Twitter, told those criticizing him to "shut up."

In a home loss to the Houston Rockets on Jan. 16, a visibly annoyed Saunders sat JaVale McGee for the final nine minutes after McGee alley-ooped to himself off the backboard on a breakaway dunk. McGee responded by defending the play to reporters, saying "Apparently if you get a fast break and throw it off the backboard in the third quarter and you're 1-11, you're not supposed to do stuff like that."

Well in Flips defense he did have a lot of shity players on his team during when he took over
09 wizards
A YOUNG swagy P (if you think he is obnoxious today think back then)
Gilbert Arenas
Javale Mcgee
Deshawn Stevenson
Andray Blatche
Josh Howard (missed a game because he was too hungover with the MAVS)

2010 Wizards
John Wall rookie
JAVALE
Gilbert Arenas (I think this was the gun year)
Josh Howard again
Swagy P
Yi Jialian (very bad player)
Blatche (still immature)
Rashard Lewis (old)
Jordan Crawford

2011
Jan Vesly
Fired after going 2-15 and hired by a Randy Whitman.... A better Timberwolves coach???


Whitman.......


Come on these are some pretty awful teams and of course the young players are gonna go out of control when you cant keep your vets under control (Gilbert)

Step one of getting a new coach: Rick retires.

Done.

Yup, not much of a surprise, as I think most of us felt like both sides wanted this to happen.

As usual, this should be a busy summer for the Wolves, with a new coach search, lottery pick, and multiple 1st and 2nd year participants in the summer league. They will probably do a trade or two as well, but I don't expect anything big. I think Pek is staying put.

Get some good rest Rick. You've had a tired year. And another unsuccessful Wolves coaching tenure comes to a close. See y'all on Draft day!

I can already see Flip stalling on the coaching search until all the good hires are gone, and then trying to convince Taylor that he is the best available option. Zgoda said he gave the impression it might take till the draft to find the guy.

I would have hoped that they would already have a list of candidates, but Flip said he would have to talk with Taylor first. Shouldn't they have already had that conversation. If they haven't, they must have planned on bringing Rick back for another season.

Not thrilled with Flip talking about keeping Adelman's offensive identity. I pray that doesn't mean hiring from within.

Marc Stein tweets that the Wolves are interested in Billy Donovan.

Cam, take off your Gator hat and give us your objective thoughts about Donovan as a candidate. What are his strengths and weaknesses?

longstrangetrip wrote:Marc Stein tweets that the Wolves are interested in Billy Donovan.

Cam, take off your Gator hat and give us your objective thoughts about Donovan as a candidate. What are his strengths and weaknesses?

Donovan took the Orlando Magic job about 3 years ago, and then quit a day later. No thanks.

lipoli390 wrote:I don't want Flip coaching this team. Here's an article on Wizards' firing of Flip:

The Wizards' management had hoped to avoid firing Saunders, even as the club lost its first eight games. But the team's continued poor play, combined with the regression of 2010's No. 1 draft pick John Wall, left the team with no choice.

Wall is averaging 7.2 assists per game this season, nearly a full assist less than the 8.3 per game he averaged in his rookie season. His shooting percentage has declined to .379 from the field this season from .409 in 2010-11.

"He is a talented player that I think I need to coach -- and he has to be willing to be coached," Wittman said of Wall. "And if he does that, that's where good players become great players."

Wall hasn't gotten much help from his Wizards teammates, who have been prone to inconsistent play. On Monday in a 20-point loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, they walked down the court for offensive possessions, failed to hustle after loose balls and missed eight of nine shots in the paint in the first quarter.

After one string of sloppy plays, Saunders took a knee in front of the scorer's table, bowed his head and rubbed his temples.

After the game, Wall said: "Whoever got the ball just took a shot. Guys are holding their heads down, and we're not fighting or competing."

While the Wizards have plenty of young, talented players, they have shown a lack of discipline and Saunders could not seem to get through to them.

Earlier in the season, the players held a team meeting in which the younger players asked the veterans to tell Saunders they wanted him to hold them more accountable, according to sources. The veterans discussed it with Saunders, but after more than two seasons of his softer approach, it was perhaps too late for him to gain control of his roster.

The Wizards tried Saunders' patience from the start, blowing a 21-point lead to the New Jersey Nets in their season opener. Afterwards, Andray Blatche voiced displeasure over the offensive play calling and later, on Twitter, told those criticizing him to "shut up."

In a home loss to the Houston Rockets on Jan. 16, a visibly annoyed Saunders sat JaVale McGee for the final nine minutes after McGee alley-ooped to himself off the backboard on a breakaway dunk. McGee responded by defending the play to reporters, saying "Apparently if you get a fast break and throw it off the backboard in the third quarter and you're 1-11, you're not supposed to do stuff like that."

Lip...

The Washington situation was an interesting one. Remember, Flip was brought in to coach a VETERAN team. Then, they were decimated by the gun deal with Arenas and everything that followed.

Flip suddenly became the wrong man for the job. He was coaching a very different type of team than the one he signed on for... it was a bad fit for both sides.